"I'm glad he pulled out," she said. "I would have been there every day to make sure he knew we wanted him to stay in prison because he should not be allowed out of prison again.

"The next time he comes out he should be in a box. He shouldn't come out of prison alive. He's ruined my life, my husband's, my kids' and everybody else's.

"Our town is not the same. My family all over the world have all been hurt by it.

"The courts and the judges and everybody else that did April's case - I take my hat off to them because they have been so good. They have done a wonderful job and that includes the police as well.

"I'm glad the judge did this ruling and I'm glad that everybody else who does bad things will be sentenced the same because life means life. You take somebody's life you deserve life.

"Hanging is too good for him, but with him sitting in a cell it's just an easy life for him. It's too easy.

"They should bring death row back to the UK and instead of having it for years and years, have it for five years and before the five years is up he should be on that to have a lethal injection. I'd be there to push the button and make sure he saw me.

"He got slashed, but nobody has seen a picture of it. He had 30 stitches in and out. I'm glad he had it done. I'm glad they did it to him because he shouldn't be sitting there. He should be frightened for his life. He's been done once and he'll get done again.

"I've still got her (April's) stuff - her picture is all around the house. She's got a brother here - Harley, he's 12.

"She's got her sister Jazmin and she's 18. And they miss her like hell. They miss her so much it's unbelievable.

"It's been hard (for her brother and sister). Harley and Jazmin both did things for her because she had health issues.

"She was our world. April used to wake up Jaz and go into her bed and all that. Even though the children have age gaps they were all close.

"With the sentence he's got he can never come out, which has helped us because until the judgement was done and the appeal you'd never know.

"But to know that he can never come out of jail alive will help us. It will never take the pain away, but we know he's within those four walls and if he comes out he'll be in a box.

"It was very difficult (when he was appealing his sentence between December and January) for my family. I went away for Christmas to see my brother. I'd not seen him for years. He saw April when she was born and he hadn't seen her personally - only via Skype.

"I just hope he suffers hell in prison - I really do because we're still suffering on the outside."

Mrs Smith, 63, from New Quay, in Ceredigion, said: "It just adds to it (the distress). If there was ever any appeal we would have been very angry because I don't think he should have rights to any appeal at all."

She said she and husband Dai, 61, believe Bridger should hang.

"I never thought I would (feel that way), but I do," she said.

The grandparents are still haunted by April's death.

Mrs Smith added: "We're all right. We're getting there. We have to. You have to get on with your life, but it's very difficult sometimes, especially when things like this crop up it brings it all back again."

Late last year Bridger made an application to appeal his whole-life term but dropped it in January.

The judge recommended Moore was among the most dangerous category of killers who should never be let out. Cooper was convicted of the murder of brother and sister Richard and Helen Thomas, and Oxfordshire couple Peter and Gwenda Dixon more than two decades after the offences.

He shot the Thomases in 1985 at their mansion near Milford Haven, Pembrokeshire.

Three and a half years later in 1989, the Dixons were shot while taking a walk along the Pembrokeshire coastal path near Little Haven.

In March 1996, he used a shotgun and knife to attack a group of teenagers, raping a 16-year-old girl and indecently assaulting a 15-year-old.

Beyond Wales those serving whole-life sentences include some of the UK's most notorious killers.

Among them are Moors mur-derer Ian Brady, Dale Cregan, jailed last year for the murders of four people including policewomen Nicola Hughes and Fiona Bone, Yorkshire Ripper Peter Sutcliffe and Britain's only living female whole-lifer Rose West.

Lawyer Simon Creighton said the Court of Appeal judges have tried to stay within European law by saying the UK Justice Secretary can cut sentences on compassionate grounds and may consider "all exceptional circumstances".

Mr Creighton, of Bhatt Murphy Solicitors, who represented one of three killers who won their appeal against whole-life terms at the ECHR last year, said the judgement leaves the law in a "confusing" state.